Vietnam’s Factory Production to Rise 8%

Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade has forecast an 8% rise in industrial production in 2017, the same growth rate as in 2016.

In a report on the direction and solutions for the industrial sector next year, the ministry said these calculations are based on research reports on global economic growth in 2017, announced by international organizations till date, according to local Sai Gon Giai Phong (Sai Gon Liberation) online newspaper on Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

It also forecast a 6-7% increase in exports in 2017. The proportion of trade deficit against Vietnam’s total trade turnover will be maintained at less than 5%.

Meanwhile, the total revenue from retail sales of goods and services is expected to rise by around 10% next year, said the ministry. The country is expected to produce 99 billion kWh of electricity in 2017, up 12.7% against this year.

In 2017, the oil and gas sector is expected to exploit around 14.8 million tons of crude oil, down 12.9% year-on-year while the output of gas will rise by 10.8% to 11.3 billion cubic meters.

At the same time, output of the coal industry is expected to remain unchanged at 38.3 million tons in 2017. However, this sector, as well as the engineering industry, will be affected because of low global price, said the ministry.

Among the heavy industries, the steel sector is expected to have an output of 5.6 million tons of raw steel, up 16.6%, while that of rolled steel is forecast to rise 18% to 5.84 million tons.

It is expected that as many as 342 million pairs of footwear will be produced in 2017, up 5.8% year-on-year, with localization rate of 60-65%.